The Court of Appeals Controversy Part 4: Who is Justice Jose Sabio, Jr.?

The man of the hour is Justice Jose Sabio, Jr., whose letter to Justice Conrado Vasquez has stirred a controversy on how the Court of Appeals handled the resolution of the stockholder fight between GSIS and the Lopezes in the control for MERALCO.

According to the Court of Appeals website,

Justice JOSE L. SABIO, JR. is the third of the five children of the late spouses, Executive Judge Jose P. Sabio, Sr. and Ester Loyola Sabio. Justice Jose L. Sabio, Jr. finished his bachelor's degree in Commerce, major in Accounting, from Liceo de Cagayan University. He was first employed with Procter and Gamble, in Cebu City. To advance his professional career, he sought transfer to Manila, and then enrolled at the Ateneo de Manila University College of Law. He finished Law in 1967 and was admitted to the Bar in 1968.

Beckoned to public service, he returned home to Cagayan de Oro, worked as Secretary to the Mayor and City Assessor. He ventured in politics, becoming barangay captain of Gusa, president of the Association of Barangay Captains and member of the Sangguniang Panglungsod.

His appointment to the Court of Appeals on May 26, 1999 was preceded by a career in the judiciary that began in March 1990, as RTC Judge of Branch 16, Tangub City, Branch 27 in Gingoog City and Branch 23 in Cagayan de Oro City.

He was conferred the title, Professor Emeritus by Xavier University College of Law where he taught Political Law and Constitutional Law, Law on Public Officers, and Private Corporation for 32 years.

Today he is a professorial lecturer of the Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA), the UP Institute of Judicial Administration (UPIJA), and Pre-bar reviewer in Legal Ethics at the Ateneo School of Law where he also handles, Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure and Constitutional Law I.

Commentary

I really find it amusing that a professor of Legal Ethics at my alma mater, Ateneo de Manila School of Law, is a the center of the present controversy. Even moreso considering that today, July 31, 2008, is the feast day of St. Ignatius de Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, which owns the Ateneo and Xavier University, where Justice Sabio has found an academic career in law.
It must have been really tough agonizing over the events after the PHP 10 M bribe offer and his decision to write the letter to Justice Conrado Vasquez. Why did he prefer to speak out instead of letting the controversy die down? The easier path would have been to quietly fade into the background. Yet, instead he has chosen to speak out and spend a lot of energy writing the letter to the Court of Appeals presiding justice. Is Justice Sabio for real?